KMU says EO 51 useless

BAGUIO CITY — As thousands of workers marched on the streets all over the country demanding for an end to contractualization, wage hike and security of tenure; President Rodrigo Duterte signed Executive Order (EO) No. 51 that prohibits illegal contracting and sub-contracting last May 1.

But workers’ organizations slammed the EO, saying that it is useless.

MAYO UNO. Workers and progressive orgs troop to Session Road to air their protest regarding the anti-labor policies of the Duterte administration like the PUJ Modernization which is essentially a phaseout of the jeepney.

Mike Cabangon, spokesperson of Kilusang Mayo Uno (KMU) Cordillera said the newly signed EO just reiterated what is already in the Labor Code and the Department Orders of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) that allows job contracting.

Cabangon said that the phrase “illegal contractualization” clearly suggest that there is legal contractualization, which means it has not ended.

“What workers want is the total banning of all forms of job contracting or labor only contracting,” Cabangon said.

DO 174 of DOLE says that the law prohibits labor contracting if: the contractor does not have investment that include machineries, equipment, work premises among others; the the contractor’s employee are performing activities directly related the main business of the principal and the contractor does not have control over the performance of its employees.
Employers circumvent these prohibitions said Cabangon. He reiterated that exploitation of workers through the job contracting scheme will only end when direct hiring becomes the norm.

In Baguio City, some 200 workers, drivers, indigenous people and youth staged a march-rally condemning Duterte for “not fulfilling his election promise to end contractualization”. The protest ended with a short program at the Igorot Park where participating groups raiterated their demands for just and decent pay, rightful benefits, regularization and security of tenure for workers.

Cabangon said the EO is another proof the President already abandoned his commitment to the people. “Who else will benefit from allowing contractualization to continue if not the big businesses,” he said. # nordis.net